The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of apricot tree, botanically known as Prunus armeniaca L. of the Rosaceae family, and hereinafter referred to by the variety denomination ‘DANIEL’.
The new Prunus armeniaca variety is a product of a controlled breeding program conducted by the inventors, Doron Holland, Irit Bar-Ya'akov, Kamel Hatib, Amnon Erez, Ze'ev Yablovitz and Raya Korchinsky in Yizre'el Valley, Israel. The objective of the breeding program was to develop a new Prunus armeniaca variety with an early ripening period of mature fruit and vigorous production of mature fruit with good eating quality.
The new Prunus armeniaca variety originated in 1999 from open-pollination by an unknown Prunus armeniaca L. variety of the early-ripening Prunus armeniaca L. variety ‘TAROG’ (Registered in Israel for Plant Breeder's Rights, No. 2441 dated 15 Mar. 2005). The new Prunus armeniaca variety ‘DANIEL’ was discovered and selected by the inventors as a unique and promising seedling resulting from the above self-pollination in 2006 in a controlled environment in Yizre'el Valley, Israel.
Asexual reproduction of the new Prunus armeniaca ‘DANIEL’ by grafting onto plum rootstock designated Marianna ‘26-24’ (unpatented) and apricot rootstock designated ‘KLABI’ (unpatented), was first performed in February of 2006 in the Yizre'el Valley of Israel, and has demonstrated that the combination of characteristics as herein disclosed for the new variety are firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of asexual reproduction. The new variety reproduces true to type. Resulting trees of new Prunus armeniaca ‘DANIEL’ were planted in 2007 in the Yizre'el Valley and the central coastal region of Israel.